This article is about the process of socioeconomic transformation in rural Malawi. It examines the survival strategies and enterprising spirit of Malawian migrant workers and their households. It argues that the strategies of these people often went beyond survival in the provision of basic necessities. Those who had the economic drive and entrepreneurial skills were able to use the proceeds of labor migration to improve their own and their households’ socioeconomic life. In March 1988, the South African Chamber of Mines stopped a century-old tradition of recruiting migrant workers from Malawi. This has arrested and put to a halt a process of accumulation taking place in the households of the returned migrant workers in the rural economy. Thus, the effects of the retrenchment of the workers will spread from the migrant and his family through the economic and social wellspring of all sectors of rural communities and their commercial lives.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BeinartW.1982The Political Economy of Pondoland, 1880–1930.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2.
BeinartW.1980 “Labour Migrancy and Rural Production: Pondoland, C. 1900–1950.” In Black Villagers in an Industrial Society. Ed. MayerP.Cape Town: Oxford University Press. Pp. 81–108.
3.
BeinartW.1979 “Joyini Inkomo: Cattle Advances and the Origins of Migrancy from Pondoland,” Journal of Southern African Studies, 5:199–229.
4.
ChirwaW.C.1997 “Aliens and AIDS in Southern Africa: The Malawi-South Africa Debate,” African Affairs.
5.
ChirwaW.C.1995a “Malawian Migrant Labour and the Politics of HIV/AIDS, 1985 to 1993.” In Crossing Boundaries: Mine Migrancy in a Democratic South Africa. Ed. CrushJ. and JamesW.Cape Town and Ottawa: IDASA and IDRC.
6.
ChirwaW.C.1995b “The Politics of Ethnicity and Regionalism in Contemporary Malawi,” African Rural and Urban Studies, 1(2):93–118.
7.
ChirwaW.C.1992 “‘TEBA is Power’: Rural Labour, Migrancy and Fishing in Malawi, 1890s–1985.” PhD Thesis. Queens University, Canada.
8.
ColemanG.1977 “Regional and District Origins of Migrant Labour from Malawi,” Journal of Social Science, 6:44–59.
9.
ColemanG.1972 “International Labour Migration from Malawi, 1875–1966,” Journal of Social Science, 2:31–46.
10.
CoplanD. and ThoahlaneT.1994 “Motherless Households, Landless Farms: The Social Implications of Changing Employment Patterns among Lesotho Migrants.” Paper presented at the International Conference on Transforming Mine Migrancy in the 1990s: Southern Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa, June 27–29.
11.
CrushJ.S.1987The Struggle for Swazi Labour, 1890–1920.Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
12.
CrushJ. S., JeevesA. and YudelmanD.1991South Africa's Labor Empire. A History of Black Migrancy to the Gold Mines.Boulder and Cape Town: Westview Press and David Philip.
13.
de VletterF.1994 “The Implications of Changing Migration Patterns in Southern Africa.” Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
14.
GhaiD. and RadwanS.1983 “Growth and Inequality: Rural Development in Malawi.” In Agrarian Policies and Rural Poverty in Africa. Ed. GhaiD. and RadwanS.Geneva: ILO. Pp. 71–97.
15.
Government of Malawi and The United Nations in Malawi (GOM and UN)1993Situation Analysis of Poverty in Malawi.Lilongwe: GOM and U.N.
16.
Government Printer1994The Hansard: National Assembly Official Verbatim Report of The First Meeting of the Thirtieth Session, 7th July, 1994.Zomba: Government Printer.
17.
HeadJ.1995 “Migrant Mine Labour from Mozambique: Employment Prospects and Policy Options in the 1990s,” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 13(1):91–120.
18.
HeadJ.1994 “Migrant Mine Labour from Mozambique: What Prospects?” Paper presented at the International Conference on Transforming Mine Migrancy in the 1990s: Southern Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa. June 27–29.
19.
HirschmannD.1990 “Malawi's ‘Capture’ Peasantry: An Empirical Analysis,” Journal of Developing Areas, 4:467–488.
20.
JamesW.1992Our Precious Metal: African Labour in South Africa's Gold Industry, 1970–1990.Cape Town: David Philip.
21.
JamesW. and CrushJ.1994 “Mine Migrancy in a Democratic South Africa.” Paper presented at the International Conference on Transforming Mine Migrancy in the 1990s: Southern Africa, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, June 27–29.
22.
JeevesA.H.1986 “Migrant Labour and South African Expansion,” The South African Historical Journal, 18:73–92.
23.
JeevesA.H.1985Migrant Labour in South Africa's Mining Economy. The Struggle for the Gold Mine's Labour Supply, 1890–1920.Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
24.
JeevesA.H.1983 “Over-Reach: The South African Gold Mines and the Struggle for the Labour of Zambesia, 1890–1920,” Canadian Journal of African Studies, 17(3):393–412.
25.
KyddJ.1985 “Malawi in the 1970s: Development Policies and Economic Change.” In Malawi: An Alternative Pattern of Development. Edinburgh: Center for African Studies. Pp. 295–384.
26.
KyddJ. and ChristiansenR.1983 “The Return of Malawian Labour from South Africa and Zimbabwe,” Journal of Modern African Studies, 21(2):311–336.
27.
KyddJ. and ChristiansenR.1982 “Structural Changes in Malawi since Independence: Consequences of a Development Strategy Based on Large-scale Agriculture,” World Development, 10(5):355–375.
28.
KyddJ. and ChristiansenR.1981 “Structural Change and Trends in Equity in Malawian Economy, 1964–1980.” In Income Distribution: Working Paper No. 2.Zomba: Center for Social Research.
29.
LegassickM. and de ClercqF.1984 “Capitalism and Migrant Labour in Southern Africa: The Origins and Nature of the System.” In International Labour Migration: Historical Perspectives. Ed. MarksS. and RichardsonP.Houslow and London: Maurice Temple Smith and The Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
30.
LeistnerE.1993 “Migration of High-level African Manpower to South Africa,” Africa Insight, 23(4):219–224.
31.
MakambeE.P.1980 “The Nyasaland African Labour ‘Ulendo’ to Southern Rhodesia and the Problem of the ‘Highwaymen,’ 1903–1923,” African Affairs, 79:548–566.
32.
MasseyD.1983 “Class Struggle and Migrant Labour in South African Gold Mine,” Canadian journal of African Studies, 17(3):429–448.
33.
McCrackenK.J.1987 “Fishing and the Colonial Economy: The Case of Malawi,” Journal of African History, 28:413–429.
34.
ReadM.1942 “Migrant Labour in Africa and its Effects on Tribal Life,” International Labour Review, 45(6):605–631.
35.
SandersonF.E.1961 “The Development of Labour Migration from Nyasaland, 1891–1914,” Journal of African History, 2(2):259–271.
36.
StichterS.1985Migrant Labourers.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
StromG.W.1989 “Labour and Migrant Labour in Destabilized and Future Southern Africa.” In Regional Cooperation in Southern Africa: A Post-Apartheid Perspective. Ed. OdenB. and OthmanH.Uppsala: The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. Pp. 63–76.
38.
The Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA)1995 “A Presentation on the Existing and Potential Contribution to Rural Southern Africa.” Marshall Town, Johannesburg: The Employment Bureau of Africa.
39.
The Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA)1977–1980 Official Correspondence, Malawi Office, Lilongwe.
40.
VailL.1983a “The Political Economy of East-Central Africa.” In History of Central Africa, Vol. 2. Ed. BirminghamD. and MartinP. M.London and New York: Longman.
41.
VailL.1983b “The State and the Creation of Colonial Malawi's Agricultural Economy.” In Imperialism, Colonialism and Hunger: East and Central Africa. Ed. RotbergR. I.Boston: Lexington Books.
42.
VailL.1977 “Railway Development and Colonial Underdevelopment: The Nyasaland Case.” In Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa. Ed. PalmerR. H. and ParsonsN. Q.London and Los Angeles: Heinemann and University of California Press.
43.
VailL.1975 “The Making of an Imperial Slum: Nyasaland and its Railways, 1895–1935,” Journal of African History, 16(1):39–87.
44.
Van VelsenJ.1964The Politics of Kinship: A Study in Social Manipulation among the Lakeshore Tonga of Nyasaland.Manchester: Manchester University Press.
45.
Van VelsenJ.1961 “Labour Migration as a Positive Factor in the Continuity of Tonga Tribal Society.” In Social Change in Africa. Ed. SouthallL.London and New York: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 230–241.
46.
YudelmanD. and JeevesA.H.1986 “New Labour Frontiers for Old: Black Migrants to the Southern African Gold Mines, 1920–85,” Journal of Southern African Studies, 13(1):101–124.
47.
Newspapers The Daily Times, December 16, 1994.
48.
The Herald, June, 1994.
49.
The Malawi News, June 4–10 and July 23–29, 1994.
50.
The Malawian, July 2–4, 1994.
51.
The Michiru Sun, January 7–13, 1994.
52.
The Nation, July 4 and December 16, 1994.
53.
The Weekly Mail, June 23, 1994.
54.
Interviews George Kapote Phiri, Chia, Nkhota Kota, 9/29/89.
55.
Mazeni Mtira, Chia, Nkhota Kota, 9/29/89.
56.
MwakimbalaB. N., Namiasi, Mangochi, 2/3/90.
57.
MwaleAmon, Nkhunga, Kanyenda, Nkhota Kota, 9/1/93 and 9/5/93.
58.
KaundaBlackson, Kandezo, Mkumbira, Nkhata Bay, 8/11/93.
59.
John Kaunda, Nthulinga, Timbiri, Nkhata Bay, 8/19/93.
60.
Alick Nyirenda, Chighachang'ombe, Timbiri, Nkhata Bay, 8/12/93.
